An Army of Our Own
by TimeIsGalleons
Summary: When a dangerous Death Eater is at large once more and Hogwarts isn't the safe place it's always been for the Potter and Weasley children, they decide to take matters into their own hands by pulling a leaf out of their parents' book. T for safety.
1. Privacy with the Potters

**A/N: This idea randomly formed in my head and just wouldn't leave me alone. I feel like it'll be good as my first full length story on this account. Most of this story will remain true to canon. It may have a few minor alterations. It's also gonna take a little while to get to the real action and main plotline because I like to build up relationships between characters and such before getting to the intense stuff. This is also my first New Generation story, so be nice. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: **The day I own Harry Potter will be the day Hermione Granger voluntarily goes on an extended hunt for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks in the company of Cormac McLaggen, Lavendar Brown, and Rita Skeeter.

"Oh, for the love of- Lily, will you please get down here? NOW?"

Anxious footsteps echoed down the hall before Lily Potter, her hair dripping and wearing a robe, finally made her appearance in the Potter's sitting room. Her two brothers, James and Albus, sat on the sofa, both sharing the same look of two people who had just been caught doing something they knew they shouldn't be. Their mother looked formidable, as per usual when dealing with her sons, but there was also a faint tone of amusement playing on her features under the anger.

"What did they do now?" Lily asked, her eyes searching the room for the usual signs of complete destruction associated with her brothers.

"I think they may be the best to tell you in this particular situation," Ginny said, shooting another scowling look at her sons. Lily's eyes narrowed as she shifted her gaze to her brothers. "_Well?_"

"Okay, Lils, don't-don't freak out," Albus started, his eyes darting frantically between his mother and sister. "But we- James and I- er we kind of…"

"Oh, for the love of Merlin, would you move it along?" James burst out impatiently. He looked far less abashed about the situation than his brother. "Lily, Al and I were bored, so I suggested we try to find out if you had a diary or something we could read, for laughs, you know. I got Dad's Cloak and-"

"You did _what?_"

"I know, brilliant, right? Anyway, we put the Cloak on and snuck into your room while you were in the shower and started looking around and Al found _this-" _he lifted a piece of folded parchment- "inside your pillowcase."

Lily's look of curious disapproval turned quickly into a full out glare of fury. She stomped over to the sofa and snatched the parchment out of James' hand. She clutched it in her fist, which was shaking and rounded on them both.

"That's private, you nosy little gits! You had no business at all to be in my room, and I swear if you ever so much as breathe on my door without my permission again I'll hex your bloody-"

"Lily, watch your mouth," her father chided as he entered the room. He took in the sight before him. James and Albus were sitting on the sofa, staring at Lily with wide, fearful eyes and sitting as far back from her as the cushions would allow. Lily was standing in front of them, face red and contorted with anger, clutching a square of parchment in her fist and Ginny was watching the entire scene with her hand over her mouth as though she were suppressing laughter. "What's going on in here? I could hear Lily screaming from two floors up."

"Your sons," Ginny said, trying in vain not to let herself smile, "raided Lily's room while she was in the shower and they seem to have found something private."

Lily's face had gone even redder than before, but it seemed to be more out of embarrassment than anything else. She was carefully avoiding her father's eyes, which had now come to focus on her.

"Oh, it's definitely private," James said, an evil grin spreading across his face. "It seems our dear little Lilykins has a bit of an admirer."

Albus let out a snort which he managed to turn into a cough and Harry's eyes widened as his gaze fixed upon the parchment still shut firmly in Lily's fist.

"Shut your mouth," Lily said, her teeth clenched. "You don't say one more word, James or I swear-"

"You'll do what, Lily? You don't even have your wand, and anyway, you're too much of a good little kid to do any magic outside of school," James said, smirking. "Anyway, it seems she's into older guys."

Lily's face was so red at this point it blended in almost perfectly with her hair and Harry looked as though he was using all his self control to keep him from tearing the parchment in Lily's hand to shreds. Ginny walked over to her husband in the doorway and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"How much older, exactly?" she asked in a calm voice.

"Oh, about seven or eight years," James said, his eyes on his mortified sister. He pointed to the parchment crumbled in her palm. "That letter's from Elatio Ingenium, the new Beater for Wimbourne? It seems dear little Lily sent him a letter confessing her undying, desperately passionate affection for him," he finished, a dreamy expression on his face and his voice airy.

Albus failed to stifle his laughter as Lily's face turned, if possible, an even deeper shade of red. If she gained anymore color, she may literally catch on fire. Harry's expression of utmost irritation gave way to one of amusement as he lifted a hand to stifle his laughter and attempt to pass it off as a violent coughing fit. James was maintaining a very taunting smirk.

"Oh, shove it, all of you," Lily whispered, attempting to regain her dignity. "It's not like I'm the first one to have a celebrity crush in this house. In fact-" a smile was slowly playing across her face, "if it weren't for celebrity crushes, James, Albus, and I wouldn't even be here."

The atmosphere in the room changed almost palpably. James and Albus had stopped laughing and were now looking quite confused. Harry's laughter had subsided and he really did start coughing. Ginny's face was redder even than Lily's had been.

"What are you talking about?" James asked loudly.

Lily smiled mischievously.

"Oh, I'm just referring to the fact that mum was crazy about dad years before they'd even met each other."

"Lily, how do you-"

"Oh, Uncle George told me," Lily said airily. "He said I may need blackmail someday. Apparently, during mum's first year and dad's second, she sent him this singing valentine that said-"

"Okay, that's enough!" Ginny said. She gestured for James and Albus to stand up and began to usher her three children out of the room. "We're all even now. Just go and- and finish packing. You all leave for Hogwarts in two days time and I know for a fact none of you have finished yet."

Grumbling to themselves, the three Potter children left the sitting room. Harry thought, for a horrifying moment, he heard Lily whisper something to James about a fresh pickled toad when they hit the hallway.

"Can you hear anything?"

"No, they're all whispering."

"Well, then move over, let me try…"

"Hey, watch it, you have really bony elbows, you know-"

"Oh, both of you, shut up. Here take these," Rose pulled out three tangles of flesh colored strings out of her pocket and held them out to James, Lily, Albus, and Hugo. "I nicked them from dad's drawer," she said in answer to all they're questioning looks. "Apparently, he and George have been working on making them slip through Imperturbable doors."

"That's brilliant!" James exclaimed, resulting in much shushing from his siblings and cousins.

The mixture of Potter and Weasley children were currently huddled around the door to the Weasley's kitchen. Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione, were meeting with some members of the old Order of the Phoenix from back in the days of the war. These meetings didn't happen frequently and were kept top secret whenever they took place. Their parents, much aware of the children's frequent attempts at eavesdropping, had put almost all the jinxes they could think of to prevent their children from hearing any plans or issues they happened to be discussing, but these precautions were all in vain: they're kids had learned from the best, after all.

Rose and Hugo shared one of the Extendable Ears, James and Albus took another, and Lily used the one left over. They each fed the fleshy wires under the crack at the bottom of the dark oak door and held their breath. Within moments, Hermione's voice filled their ears as though she were standing right beside them.

"Well, he can't be a worse threat than Voldemort was, can he?" she was saying. "I mean, I know he was one of his followers, but we can still catch him."

"Hermione, he's been evading capture for over twenty years now," Arthur Weasley replied. "I don't think we should underestimate him. He was one of the more dangerous Death Eaters."

"Yeah, trust me, we remember," Harry said in a grave voice. "Do we have no leads at all as to where he was headed? Kingsley told us they lost him in Clapham two nights ago."

"_Who are they talking about?" _Albus mouthed. Everyone shrugged.

"I don't think we should get ourselves too worked up about this," Neville Longbottom's voice interjected suddenly. "We'll get him eventually. It's only a matter of time."

"I suppose," said Ginny's voice. "Anyway, he can't do much damage on his own."

The Extendable Ears were suddenly filled with the sound of scrolls rolling up and people muttering. The meeting was ending.

"Move!" Rose whispered urgently, grabbing the neck of Hugo's shirt and dragging him away from the door. Albus and James backed up hastily and snuck into the nearby sitting room off the hall. Lily was about to sprint up the staircase to her left when the oak door began to open. She shoved her Extendable Ear into her pocket hastily before coming face to face with her father.

"Oh, er, hi Dad," she said, still stuffing wires deeper into her pocket. "I was just…I mean Rose, Hugo, and I were just coming down to see if you were all finished yet. Hugo was getting hungry, you know how he is."

Harry did not look entirely convinced, but he was not given time to question his daughter further as the rest of the people in the kitchen began to file out and he had to step aside into the hall.

"Oh, hey, kids," Ron said, stepping out into the hall after his gray-haired father. "Hermione's just started dinner in there now if anyone wants to help." He rolled his eyes. "As if she'll let you. I tried a few nights ago and she nearly tried to beat me with a saucepan."

"That's because you caught her apron on fire," Hugo said.

"Ah, well, she's better when she works on her own anyway," Ron said, checking over his shoulder to make sure Hermione hadn't heard him.

"Well, I'd best be getting on," Arthur said as the last Order members exited out the front door. "I'll see you all soon. Have a nice term, kids. Write to us or your grandmother will go completely spare."

He hugged each of the children in the hall in turn, called out a general goodbye and followed the rest of the Order out the door.

"Speaking of school," Harry said. "Lily, will you tell your brothers you'll all be staying here tonight? We're going to go to King's Cross as a group tomorrow instead of just meeting on the platform."

Ron shot Harry a quick, slightly worried, look.

"Why are we doing that?" James said as he and Albus stepped out of the sitting room. "We, er, sort of couldn't help overhearing," he added, noting his father's confused look.

"You mean you couldn't help eavesdropping when you heard everyone in the hallway," Harry said.

"Details," James said, waving his hand as though to shoo a fly. "Anyway, what're we staying here for?"

Harry and Ron looked at each other again, then Ron said, "It's just a bit easier than trying to meet up at the right place and figuring the time. Anyway, we're all already here."

"Are you two almost done in there?" Ginny's voice called from the kitchen. "Because if you'd all like to eat before breakfast, we could use a bit of assistance in here."

"Keep away from the saucepans, I'm telling you…" Ron muttered as he and Harry turned back into the kitchen and shut the door.

The Potter and Weasley children all looked at each other.

"In here," Albus said, gesturing toward the sitting room from which he and James had emerged moments before.

They all filed into the room and sat down. They were completely silent for a moment before Hugo finally spoke up.

"Do you think all of us going to King's Cross together has anything to do with, you know, the Death Eater?"

"I'd almost bet my broomstick on it," said Lily. "This guy must be really dangerous…"  
>Everyone looked worried.<p>

"But he can't be that bad," said Albus. "The worst of them were killed or imprisoned right after the war."

"That doesn't mean none of them escaped, though," Rose said. "Or avoided being captured in the first place. Maybe I can find a book in the library once we're at school that mentions Death Eaters that made it out of the second war…I bet there's something about it. I could check the old newspapers too."

"You're the only person I know who plans trips to the library before they even set foot in school," said James.

"Well, I _am _going into O.W.L. year this year," Rose said as though she were speaking to a two-year-old. "And, unlike you, I aspire to get more than four O.W.L.s."

"Okay, guys? Not the point right now," Lily said as James opened his mouth to argue. "Look, they wouldn't even be discussing this if the guy wasn't dangerous. Dad and Ron have caught a fair few of the escaped Death Eaters and there was never all this fuss about any of them."

"Maybe there's something that makes this guy more threatening than any plain old Death Eater," James said. "You know, like some type of crazy Dark Magic or something."

"What I think," said Hugo, leaning forward in his seat. "Is that it's not so much what he can do, but what he's after."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, think about," Hugo went on. "Mum, Dad, Harry, and probably even Ginny, are top targets for any of the Death Eaters. They're the ones that destroyed You-Know-Who and over half of his little minions in the first place. The Death Eaters that managed to keep out of Azkaban are probably pretty miffed at them."

"So what you're saying," Rose said slowly. "Is that they're really afraid this Death Eater might be after…well, them? Or-" she swallowed. "us?"

The sound of something falling in the kitchen reverberated through the room, as everyone went silent. The loud clattering was quickly followed by a shout of "_Ron!_", a dull thunk, and a yelp of pain. James winced.

"Sounds like Uncle Ron wasn't kidding about the saucepan thing."

**A/N: I'm not sure how happy with this I am. I'm in half a mind to just start from scratch and write it all over again. If you think this first chapter's alright the way it is, review and let me know and I'll keep it. If you think I should do a rewrite, review and tell me that and I'll take this one down and do another. Either way, review please!**


	2. Burning Memories

**A/N: **Here's chapter two for you. I'm attempting to update weekly, but this one caused me a little difficulty. I had to figure out exactly how much to set up this early, so I had to do a few rewrites on it. I think this is the third draft of it, actually. I hope you like it.

**Disclaimer:** Have we not been over this? Must I give another 'I'll own Harry Potter when' spiel? Oh, alright then. Ahem. I'll own Harry Potter when the Dolores Umbridge adopts Harry Potter.

**An Army of Our Own**

**Chapter Two: Burning Memories**

The havoc that ensued the next morning when everyone was trying to round up all their possessions and schoolbooks was highly reminiscent of the times Harry had experienced at the Burrow during his own school years. Everything seemed to be in utter chaos. James was caught trying to persuade Lily's Pygmy Puff, Remy, into the same cage as his owl, Orion, who had been eyeing the purple puffball ever since Lily had brought it home from her uncle's joke shop. Rose was running about the house in a complete frenzy trying to locate all of her schoolbooks, which had mysteriously hidden themselves in odd places during the night. They were turning up under sofas, in cabinets and different appliances, and, even once, in a toilet.

After snatching Remy back from James and stowing him safely in his own cage, Lily could be found pacing around the guest room where she slept while visiting her cousins. She was muttering to herself, tacking items off a list in her head and trying to think of anything she had forgotten. She came up with nothing, but was still left with the strange feeling there was something she hadn't remembered.

"Hey, Lils," a voice said from the doorway and Lily spun around to find Hugo standing there. "Have you seen Rose's Transfiguration text? She's going completely spare trying to find it; it's the only one she's missing."

Lily shook her head. "I haven't seen it anywhere. I can help find it, though. I've already finished packing."

She stepped out into the hall. Hugo gave the landing a once over before looking at her and saying "You check up here. I'll go and look downstairs again."

He made his way back down the staircase, where quite a ruckus seemed to be breaking out. Lily could hear Rose screeching something and the distinct popping and snapping of a Weasley's Wildfire Whiz-Bang echoing off the walls.

She made her way through all of the bedrooms on the second floor. She didn't find the Transfiguration book in Hugo's room (though, admittedly she hadn't tried too hard. The room really was a wreck and she was almost positive she'd stumbled across an extremely aged banana in the far corner), or Rose's room, which was much neater than Hugo's by far. All the books she could find in the room were sorted neatly onto shelves alphabetically by subject, and none of them seemed to be the one she needed.

She exited Rose's bedroom, causing the nameplate on it to swing slightly as she shut the door, and made her way over to the office Ron and Harry shared when they were working on the same cases. Normally, none of the children were allowed in this room as all Auror work was classified and top secret, but she figured her father wouldn't mind so much if she just checked for the book and then left; they were already running short on time and if this book wasn't found soon, they'd miss their train for sure. It wasn't as if she was going to go snooping through their files or anything. Taking a deep breath, she turned the shiny handle on the door, pushed it open, and stepped inside.

The office was rather cluttered. There were two desks, both littered in manila folders and fly away papers with a waste bin beside each one. Crumpled papers and discarded sweet wrappers overflowed from the bins onto the floor. Numerous books lined the shelves on the walls, all with titles like _Helpful Hex Index _and _The Dark Arts: Evaluated and Outsmarted. _Lily ran a finger over the heavy leather spines of the books, checking the titles for Rose's Transfiguration text, but finding nothing. She turned her attention back to the desks, each of which had a small, wooden block amongst the plethora of papers that had both Harry's and Ron's names on them along with their rank in the Auror office.

As Lily studied her father's desk, finding no trace of a book anywhere on it, she noticed something there that she hadn't immediately taken in upon first glance. A stone basin sat in the middle of the desk, crushing several scrolls of parchment. The basin had odd marking around the top edges and seemed to be giving off a faint, bluish glow. Curious, Lily approached it and peered inside. It was filled with a substance that she could not define as either liquid or gas and she noticed a set of phials next to it, all containing a similar substance and donning small labels.

She reached out for one of the phials and lifted it. The label on it read '_Tottenham Court Road; Thursday, August the First, 1997_'. There were small figures moving in the murky substance floating in the glass, though she couldn't make them out. She replaced the phial gingerly into the small wooden stand it was held in with the others and peered once again into the strange basin beside them. She gasped.

There were people in the basin moving very quickly and obviously shouting, though she could not hear what they were saying. The room they were in seemed rather dark and she moved her face closer to the basin to get a better look. There was a desk in the room but, unlike Ron's and Harry's desks in the room she was currently standing in, it had nothing upon its wooden surface. There was also a bookcase which was filled with large, leather bound tomes.

Turning her attention to the people in the room, she recognized a few of them as members of her own family, though far younger in age then she had ever seen them. Her father, at least a head shorter and with his hair as messy as ever, was standing next to Hermione and Neville Longbottom, a close personal friend of her parents'. They all had rather panicky expressions on their faces, and after a moment, she understood why.

Two men in deep black robes with masks over their faces burst into the room and shot a spell at the three of them. Lily's hands flew to her mouth as she watched her father, aunt, and close friend fly backward. Neville was thrown over a desk while Hermione's body slammed into the bookcase, causing all the large books to fall on top of her. Lily's father was knocked into the stone wall behind him. Soon, all the small figures in the basin were firing off curses. Hermione crawled out from under all the large books covering her. Harry shot a curse at one of the masked men, who immediately fell facedown onto the floor.

She saw the three of them pause, and then Hermione began to speak. She had hardly started her sentence before a long whip of purple flame shot out of the wand of the masked man that Harry hadn't cursed and slashed straight through her chest. She toppled over.

"No!" Lily yelled, clutching the edges of the basin with her hands so hard her knuckles turned white.

"Lily?"

Lily whipped around quickly, stepping away from her father's desk as though it had shocked her, and came face to face with her father in the present. She was surprised, at first, at his appearance and realized she had expected to see his younger self from the strange substance in the basin. His more aged face looked very anxious as he looked from his daughter to the basin on his desk.

"What are you doing in here? It's nearly time to leave," he said, striding over to the basin and peering inside. His head turned toward her so fast she was surprised he didn't get whiplash.

"Did you look at this?" he asked, his features turning rather stern.

"Er, well maybe a bit of it…" Lily admitted, staring down at her feet. "I just came in because Hugo asked me to help find Rose's Transfiguration book and-"

"And you thought it would be Ron's and my office?" he asked skeptically.

"Well, no," Lily said, "but they've been cropping up in odd places all morning, it was possible. And it was nowhere in her or Hugo's room, so I just thought I'd check. Then I saw that-that thing on your desk and I just looked at it. I'm sorry."

Harry's face softened somewhat and he took out his wand and touched it to the inside of the basin. A bead of light welled up at the tip of it, and he placed it at the top of an empty phial in the wooden holder on the desk, which immediately filled with the bright substance from the basin.

"It's alright," he said, turning back to Lily. "I just wish you hadn't seen that. It's not one of my better memories."

"Memories?" Lily said. "You mean those things, the phials, they're full of memories?"

"Yes. Mostly mine, Ron's, and Hermione's," Harry said. "But there are a few from a couple other people as well. That particular one was from my fifth year at Hogwarts."

Lily couldn't help but notice how dark her father's face became. It reminded her of the look he got whenever he spoke of the war that had plagued his childhood.

"What happened, Dad?" she asked, quietly.

He looked at her for a moment and smiled sadly.

"Nothing you need to worry about right now," he said. "But Lily, I have to ask you to do something for me."

"What?" Lily asked, surprised at the sudden change of his tone.

"Don't tell anyone what you saw in there. It's all supposed to be secret. Especially don't mention it to your mother. She'd have a fit over me keeping this thing out in the open."

"What exactly is it?" Lily asked, running her fingers along the symbols at the top of the basin.

"It's called a Pensieve," Harry said. "It's used to reflect on certain memories. It's hard for me to remember details from certain situations, so I use this to look back on them."

"But…what was that? What happened to Aunt Hermione?"

Harry's features darkened once more and it seemed to take him a great deal of effort to answer her.

"Someone cursed her," he said finally. "She was okay, though. Madam Pomfrey fixed her up."

"But who was-"

"I can't tell you anymore, Lily. This is all supposed to be kept secret," Harry said quickly. "And anyway, we need to get moving. You'll miss the train if we don't leave soon. Come on, I'll help you with your trunk."

Lily had about fifty more questions, but the look on her father's face told her the conversation was over, so she sighed and reluctantly followed him out of the room.

When Harry and Lily made their appearance downstairs in the hallway, they discovered that Rose had finally managed to procure her Transfiguration book. It turned out this particular volume had wedged itself in between the refrigerator in the kitchen and the wall and was very reluctant to leave its hiding place. James especially had found the sight of Rose yanking and pulling her book out from behind the fridge, pleading with it to come out and get into her trunk, extremely amusing. His obnoxious laughter was stifled at once after a particularly sharp look from his mother. Ginny, it seemed, had an idea as to why the books had decided on the sudden game of hide-and-seek.

With much difficulty and after a few choice swear words from the adults and children alike, the heavy trunks were packed one by one into the extended trunk of the Weasley family vehicle. As they all piled into the car, Hermione cast a nervous glance at Ron as he took the driver's seat.

"Oh, come off it," he said, throwing a glance at her as he pushed the gear shift, "I've had my Muggle license for years now."

He let out a loud yell as his foot pushed the accelerator and sent them all shooting backward. Grumbling to himself, he switched gears again and set off, ignoring Hermione's smug look.

They were about halfway to King's Cross station when Lily let out a loud squeal.

"Oh no, oh no, I've forgotten something!" she said, bouncing up and down in her seat next to James. "It's really important, could we go back? Please?"

Once they'd made it back to the house (after much grumbling and muttered swears on Ron's part), Lily made a mad dash inside, nearly tripping over the uneven ground of the yard, and returned moments later holding absolutely nothing.

"But you didn't even bring anything out!" James exclaimed, looking at her empty hands. Lily ignored him, but Harry thought he saw the edge of a familiar piece of parchment sticking out of her pocket in the rearview mirror.

They arrived at the station at a quarter to eleven and rushed to load their things onto large metal trolleys before each of them took it in turns to pass through the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Harry rushed through with Rose and Albus, Ginny with Hugo and James, and Ron and Hermione entered last with Lily.

Once on the platform, Lily automatically found her best friend, Kayla Messing, standing by her parents and waved eagerly. She had bright, blonde hair that hung around her face in frizzy curls and she was half a head shorter than Lily. Kayla was Lily's first friend at Hogwarts, aside from her brothers and cousins. She was a Muggle-born, which was what had drawn her and Lily together in the first place. On her first day at Hogwarts, Lily had been rather nervous. She'd of course been looking forward to attending the magical school her entire life after hearing about the adventures her parents and brothers had gotten into there, but she feared how much she had to live up to.

Not only did she have two older brothers who had both already made their mark upon the teachers, James with his practical jokes and trouble-making and Albus with his book smarts, but she also had two incredibly famous parents. Being the daughter of Harry Potter, the man who defeated the darkest wizard to ever live, and Ginny Weasley, the best Chaser the Holyhead Harpies had ever had, was a difficult thing to do. While Lily was extremely proud of both of her parents' accomplishments, she wished people could look at her without instantly thinking of them.

That's why it had been such a relief meeting Kayla. Her Muggle parentage resulted in her knowing very little about Quidditch teams and Wizarding history, which suited Lily perfectly. The two had shared the same compartment on the train and talked the whole trip through. They discussed everything from Kayla's parents to Lily's brothers, and, eventually, once the train ride had almost reached its end, Lily told Kayla who her parents were and what they had done. Kayla's initial reaction had been wonder and shock, especially when Lily explained her father's troubled childhood, but it hadn't changed a thing about the way she had treated her before she found out.

As Lily was in the same year as her cousin Hugo, he had also met Kayla and the three of them were typically spotted together in the corridors and always partnered up in classes. Lily sometimes got the sneaking suspicion that her company was less what Hugo hung around with them for than Kayla's was, but she never said anything. Whenever she caught Hugo gazing in a rather dreamy fashion at their friend, she merely raised her eyebrows at him, which never failed to make his ears to turn a very deep shade of scarlet.

Kayla caught sight of Lily from the other end of the platform and waved back at her, beaming.

"Alright, kids, have a great term," Ginny said, leaning down to hug and kiss them all. James dramatically wiped his cheek when she reached him.

"We want letters from you all once a week," Hermione said as she hugged Rose. "Tell us everything that's going on."

"And behave yourselves," Harry put in, looking at James and Albus who grinned.

"Wasting your breath there, mate," Ron said gleefully. "They're almost as bad as we were."

"Well, then let's hope they got more genes from me and Hermione than you two," Ginny said. Harry and Ron both feigned looks of offence at this, causing all of them to laugh.

Harry and Ron helped haul all their luggage onto the train and slammed the doors after they boarded.

"Remember what we said about behaving," Ginny said, stepping back as a loud whistle filled the air and the train began to move.

"And stay safe!" Hermione squeaked, waving at them as the train picked up speed. They waved back at her until the train rounded a corner and their parents were blocked from sight.

"Well, Al and I have some important business to take care of," James said with a maniacal grin. "We'll be seeing you all later…"

And he and Albus disappeared up the corridor. Lily turned to Hugo.

"Let's go and find Kayla," she said, shoving her way past a group of fifth years standing outside a full compartment.

They walked along the train all the way to the back, peering in windows in search of Kayla. They had no luck until almost the back of the train, where they finally spotted her alone in a compartment, sorting through a deck of Muggle playing cards, a book opened on the seat next to her, and murmuring to herself. Hugo slid the door open and sidled inside, Lily following just behind him.

"Oh, hi guys," Kayla said, looking up from her book. "I was wondering where you were, so I just found a compartment. I've been trying to figure out card reading." She nodded to the book next to her. Lily sat in the seat beside her and lifted the cover to see the title. It was _Unfogging the Future _by Cassandra Vablatsky.

"I take it you signed up for Divination this year?" Lily said.

Kayla nodded, immersed once more in the thick text. She sat a few cards face down on her knees, glanced at the book, and then turned one of them face-up and scowled. "That just _can't_ be right!" she moaned, putting the cards back into the deck and shuffling once more.

"I don't see why you're even bothering with that subject," Hugo said. "Mum and Dad said they took it with Harry when they were here and it was complete rubbish. The teacher's apparently a total fraud."

"From what I've heard, your mom walked straight out of class in the middle of the lesson," Lily said.

"I don't really blame her, to be honest," Hugo said, nodding to Kayla who had just tapped the deck of cards with her wand, causing them to shoot straight into her face.

"Not a word," Kayla murmured as she spat the queen of hearts out of her mouth. Lily stifled her sniggers with much difficulty and Hugo grinned.

The rest of the morning passed, quickly giving way to the afternoon. When the food trolley came, Lily, Hugo, and Kayla bought as many sweets and cakes as they could hold and ate them happily as they watched the rolling green hills pass by outside the window. As they were swapping Chocolate Frog cards and discussing the new classes they had elected to take this term at Hogwarts, the door to their compartment opened rather sharply and James and Albus entered, looking thoroughly irritated. James walked swiftly to Lily and snatched a Frog off of the small stack of remaining sweets next to her, unwrapped it, and shoved it into his mouth whole.

"You owe me a Sickle for that," Lily said as she thumbed through her cards. James disregarded her.

"Three guesses as to who we just ran into in the hall," he said, plopping himself on an empty seat.

"Who?" Hugo asked.

"Scorpius Malfoy," Albus said with a scowl.

"I was about to say that!" James burst out in annoyance. Albus ignored him.

"He said he was amazed our parents would let their 'ickle kiddies' come back to school all alone during such 'troubled times'."

Lily and Hugo looked at each other. Kayla looked puzzled.

"What does he mean by 'troubled times'?" she asked, looking at each of their somber faces in turn.

"Well, we sort of heard something over the summer…"

They explained about the conversation they'd overheard the Order having about the rogue Death Eater and their suspicions as to what the Death Eater was after. When they'd finished, she looked flabbergasted.

"So you think he's after _you guys?_" she said in amazement. "But…but the war's been over for over twenty years now! If he was going to try and attack you, don't you think he'd've tried something before now?"

James' eyes widened. They hadn't thought of that.

"Maybe something's changed," he suggested. "Is there anything that's happened recently that would make an old Death Eater come out of hiding?"

Everyone was entirely silent, thinking hard. Lily tried to think of anything that could possibly be so appealing a Death Eater would risk his freedom to get it. She considered for a moment the possibility that he could be after what had ended the war, her father himself, but the thought made her shudder and she pushed it from her mind. That wasn't a recent event. It had happened years ago. This Death Eater, whoever he was, had had plenty of time to plan, and even enact, an attack of her father and he hadn't even tried before.

Then she remembered something. She remembered a person whom she had seen only this morning. She remembered a long chain of purple fire, slashing through her aunt's chest. She recalled the labeled phials in the stand beside the mysterious Pensieve. Maybe they weren't all just memories of events. Maybe they were memories of a person.

Memories of a Death Eater.

**A/N: **I had issues knowing whether I should stop this chapter where I did or not. I had originally planned to keep it going until they reached the common room after the feast, but my word count was getting well up and I figured I should save some of it for the next chapter. The good news about that is the next chapter will most likely be out quicker than this one was, since I already have part of it written.

Oh, and also, I threw an OC in here because it seems highly unlikely that the kids would only hang out with each other while at school, especially since they're all in different years. I kept Hugo and Lily together because I thought they may have established quite a bond, both being the youngest in their families. I also did it because I wanted a sort of echo of the trio from the original series.

And please forgive any spelling or grammar mistakes. I reread the story myself to try and catch them but, as I don't have a beta for this yet, some of them slip through.

Anyway, enough of this huge author's note.

Reviews prevent spattergroit.


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